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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (April 2, 1987)
VitiLVI illZIl: Masily sunny, breezy and quit .3 cool Thursday. Hi h 35 to 40. Wind northwest 15 ta 25 mph. FairandnotasccSd Thursday night. Low in the mid to upper 20s. Mostly sunny and warmer Friday, High 45 to 50. j News Oigsst Pegs 2 Editorial Pegs 4 Calendar Pegs 9 Sports Pas?j 10 Classified , PagulQ April 2, 1987 University of Nebraska-Lincoln Vol.86 No. 130 Minuses A A Tl Tl A 71 Tl By Jen Deselms Senior Reporter A public hearing on the proposed elimination of the Lincoln division of the College of Nursing brought out red buttons in support of the college and may be deja vu for regents and Nursing officials. About 250 people, many wearing buttons that said "save our school support nursing," attended the hearing before the Board of Regents, on the nursing program and the community dentistry program, Tuesday afternoon. In 1 985 the College of Nursing took a $300,000 cut and is still eliminating positions to meet that cut. Rosalee Yeaworth, dean of UNMC Col lege of Nursing, said eight positions have yet to be eliminated. Many of the proponents of the nursing pro gram were not College of Nursing officials but from area hospitals and nursing organizations. Lynn Roper, chairman of the Lincoln General Hospital Board of Trustees, said she was dis mayed with the proposed elimination. She said that in the early 1970s when the Lincoln program began, Lincoln General and St. Elizabeth Hospi tals discontinued their nursing programs. Offi cials did this, she said, because of an agreement to have a nursing program through the university and has since provided clinical sites for the program. Now the university want3 to renege on the agreement, she said. Local health care officials also gave support to the Community Dentistry Program which would save $120,000. The Community Dentistry Program provides students with experience in treating patients at sites other than the university. Robert Whitson, health care administrator at the penitentiary, said the dental staff at the penitentiary would be overwhelmed without the help of dental students. Throughout the hearing no one spoke out against the programs, but in a plea for a sound future for the nursing program, Carol McShane, former faculty member in the Lincoln division, said if the future cannot be secure then the division should be closed. McShane said the reasons for closing the Lin coln program were illogical and money could be trimmed from other areas of the med center to finance the program. "You can secure the Lincoln Division. Saving it will not do. It has been saved before. The cost in enrollment is too high. And the cost in spirit is too high." Be prepared for tornado sirens today By Libby York Staff Reporter Simulated tornado-warning sirens are scheduled to be sounded today at 10:15 a.m. as part of Tornado Awareness Week, sponsored by the National Weather Service and the State Civil Defense. Representatives from the two agencies request that all students and faculty go to areas designated by hallway posters within each buil ding. Orval Jurgena, a meteorologist at the Lincoln National Weather Ser vice Station in Lincoln, said that UNL and Lincoln's downtown have never been struck by a tornado but the possibility exists. Nebraska led the nation in repor ted tornadoes last year with 53; Jur gena said. From records dating back 100 years, he said, Nebraska ranks seventh nationally in reported tor nadoes. This year's tornado season is expected to be average, about 34, he said. Jay S. Hobgood, a UNL assistant , -, . . " , -- -. I $- ' . . . - . ' " 1( , .J. ' ' .1"'' f J : , -. professor of geography said that between 1953 and 1976, 817 torna does were reported in Nebraska, the fifth-highest total in the nation. Texas had the most tornadoes dur ing those years. Hobgood said the safest place to hide from a tornado's destructive force is in an underground base ment or in a building's interior, away from windows and flying glass. He also recommended not using elevators and using a cushioning object for protection from flying glass. When outdoors or in a vehicle, indoor shelter should be sought immediately. When indoor shelter is not available, a ditch or a low spot on the ground is safer, Hobgood said. Nebraska may be picked for nuclear-waste dump By Micki Haller Staff Reporter Government gives fewer grants Ls feeling funding cuts Student Part two of a three-part series By Lee Rood Staff Reporter Mike, 26, works at a music store. He earned a bachelor's degree in music composition from UNL in 1984 but employers in his field say his degree just isn't enough. Meanwhile, Mike struggles to repay a $5,000 student loan debt on minimum wage. He's frustrated. : -- - i I m- - & i J. JLJ k ! i I I j I I "I feel like I'm going from middle class to lower class. I just can't get ahead," he said. Mike would like to go back to school, but that would mean more loans, prob ably another $10,000. Others also leave college with huge debts and instead of getting ahead find themselves getting behind on loan payments. Doug Severs, assistant director of scholarships and financial aid, said the default rate on the loans taken out at UNL is 7 to 9 percent, about the same as the national average. That minority costs the government $1 billion each year, according to the Department of Education. That's one reason the government is proposing plans to cut back on student funds, including certain "free money programs." Several UNL students who depend on financial aid say they are feeling the pinch. Viengpasong Keothavy has worked the last three summers to pay for col lege and to help her parents raise her six brothers and sisters. She is suc ceeding, but only because she receives a Pell Grant from the government and works 20 hours a week in Love Library. Keothavy said she gets discouraged sometimes. "It's harder for me because I can't go to school without working, and because I am working, my studies are suffer ing," she said. "It doesn't sound that bad, but you have to remember that I have to work twice as hard at every thing because English is my second language and I have to study twice as hard just to understand what's going on around me." On top of that, Keothavy soon might lose her Pell Grant. Lawmakers in Washington are de bating a $600-million-dollar, income contingent loan program that would eventually phase out all government aid except loans. Under the plan, originally proposed by Secretary of Education William Ben nett, the government would make more money available for student loans and repayment would be based on stu dents' income upon graduation. "It's like saying, 'We'll take all this grant money away from you, but we'll give you a loan instead," Severs said. Keothavy said that if the plan is approved, she will have to quit school. "I can't take out a loan. All my money after graduation has to go to my family," she said. "My grant is the only thing allowing me to go to school." Severs said that students who bor row should borrow only what they need. Often students borrow the maximum amount in case they need the money in the future or just for spending money, Severs said. Then at pay-back time stu dents wish they had not borrowed so much, he said. Todd Mannschreck, a UNL junior accounting major, said both he and his freshman brother get financial aid. Man nschreck has taken out Guaranteed Student Loans since he began college, but hasn't thought about how he will pay them back. "It isn't a reality yet . . . Right now I'm just worrying about getting through school. I guess I'll just cross that See DEDTon 2 April Fools' Day was the deadline for contractors to submit bids on a low level radioactive-waste dump that has about a 50 percent chance of being built in Nebraska. It's no joke: If Nebraska is selected a a dump site, five states would begin depositing their low level radio active waste here by 1988. The Western Nebraska district repre sented by Sen. Sandra Scofield (Chad ron) contains several potential sites, although the sparsely populated area produces little nuclear waste and uses little electricity derrived from nuclear power. Hundreds of western Nebraskans have called Scofield about the possibil ity of their "backyards" becoming a waste site. They worry about whether officials can guarantee that technology and regulations will prevent leakage or contamination from the dump. And they wonder about who will pay for cleanup if a leak occurs. Their fears are justified: Of the nation's six original dump sites, which were all determined safe and suitable, three were closed because of radioac tive contamination of air, soil and water, and two others had similar con tamination problems. The only site that may have been suitable was in Nevada. Under current Nebraska law, if a state site contaminated the environ ment, the contractor who built the dump would not be liable for cleanup costs, nor would the other states dump ing there. Nebraska's state government and Nebraska taxpayers would have to pay. Formerly, all of the nation's low-level radioactive waste was dumped at three sites: Hanford, Wash.; Barnwell, S.C.; and Beatty, Nev. But in 1980, Congress passed the Low Level Radioactive Waste Policy Act, which made each state responsible for the safe disposal of low level waste generated within its borders. When few states acted, Congress passed a more stringent bill in 1985, which established strict deadlines for indi vidual states or groups of states. If states did not comply, the three operat ing sites would be allowed to double the surcharge for refuse disposal access. By the first deadline, July 1, 1986, each state was required to join a com pact or build a waste dump. Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Loui siana formed the Central Interstate Low-level Radioactive Waste Compact. By the next federally mandated dead line, Jan. 1, 1988, the compact must choose a host state and a plan for establishing its waste dump. The Central States Compact spon sored two studies by an independent New York consulting firm to determine areas that might be environmentally suitable for a site. To be environmen tally suitable, the site must be away from flood plains, streams, reservoirs and water supply channels, and away from towns, cities and game refuges. Sixteen Nebraska counties Sioux, Dawes, Sheridan, Platte, Colfax, Dodge, Burt, Cuming, Stanton, Madison, Pierce, Wayne, Thurston, Dixon, Decatur and Knox have "environmentally suita ble areas" for the dump. On March 31, Gov. Kay Orr announced the appointment of 22 Nebraskans to a task force to review national and regional developments, study long- and short term liability issues and determine the best option for disposing Nebraska's low-level radioactive wastes and pro tect the state's interests. Members of the task force include members of the general public, genera tors of low-level waste, citizens' organi zations, natural resource districts, NU officials, physicians, local and country government officials and state senators. Nebraska has alternatives to a Ne braskan burial site for nuclear waste. For example, it could choose to store nuclear waste above ground where it can be monitored. In about 15 years, Nebraska's two nuclear reactors will be decommissioned. By then each will have become so radioactive that it will need to be disposed of. These decom missioned radioactive plants could be converted into nuclear dump sites. Several senators have introduced legislation in the 1987 session designed to fix some of the problems with the compact agreement and Nebraska law. Options include temporary on-site stor age of nuclear waste, on-site disposal of waste in decommissioned reactors, a merger with another compact, with drawal from the compact to develop its own solution, or an agreement with another state or compact to accept Nebraska's waste. Other states in the compact are con sidering alternatives. Lawmakers in Kan sas, which also has a very good chance of being selected for a site, are consid ering a bill to withdraw from the com pact and establish a Low-Level Radio active Waste Authority patterned after authorities in Texas and New York that already operate disposal sites. In Arkansas, the legislative session has been extended to April 3 to see how Nebraska and Kansas act. The governor of Arkansas, Bill Clinton, has said if Kansas or Nebraska withdraws, he will "lead the charge to withdraw from the compact." Nebraska now disposes of 38,000 cubic feet of low-level radioactive wastes in a year. The compact states now dis pose of 114,000 cubic feet and are expected to dispose of 700,000 cubic feet by the year 2001. Nebraska's two nuclear power sta tions are at Ft. Calhoun and Brownville. Nuclear power stations create nearly 95 percent of low level radioactive waste. Medical and experimental facilities create the remaining 5 percent, but most of that becomes harmless after a few weeks. r i::, 1